In the latest installment of his “GED Section,” D.L. Hughley turned his attention to Stephen A. Smith’s dinner with President Donald Trump. Hughley questioned both the purpose of the meeting and what it says about who gets access to power.
Trump’s Playbook
Hughley opened by describing what he sees as a familiar pattern. Each fall in the electoral cycle, he said, Trump puts Black celebrities, former athletes, entertainers and media figures on display. Hughley argued that Trump has a talent for identifying people he can insult who will still return to his side. He pointed to Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham and J.D. Vance, who once compared Trump to a Nazi. All of them, Hughley noted, eventually found their way back into Trump’s orbit.
A Seat at Whose Table?
Smith now joins that list after attending a dinner with Trump alongside Kid Rock and Bill Maher. Hughley went further, calling Smith “the Black Bill Maher.” He made clear that he has no issue with conversation itself. “You should always listen to people,” he said. His concern was that nearly everything the public knows about the dinner came from Smith, not the White House.
Hughley then raised the question of results. “Has anybody ever went to dinner and had him change his mind?” he asked. If these meetings produce no change in policy, he argued, the people attending are “just having dinner and serving yourself.”
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Uncomfortable Comfort
Hughley also asked why figures with a history of disdain for Black Americans, including Sean Hannity and Trump, appear so comfortable around Smith. He also asked why Smith seems so comfortable around them. Hughley cited the timing of the dinner. He said that in the same week, Trump called a Black woman a dog and his administration pursued subpoenas against a sitting Black congresswoman. “He’s serving you dinner,” Hughley said. “He’s serving a Black woman a subpoena.”
Questions That Don’t Matter
Smith has said Bill Maher, not Trump, invited him and that Trump took questions for four hours. Hughley contrasted that account with the administration’s treatment of the press. He pointed to journalists removed from the White House and Justice Department pressure on media companies across the country. Trump, he said, will take questions from two TV hosts, a radio host and “a failed rock star,” but “not the ones that matter.”
Miss Me With That
Hughley closed by pointing to what he called a double standard. Smith responded with “scorched earth” criticism when Black peers gave him an unfavorable award. Yet when Trump insults his intelligence, his professionalism and, Hughley argued, his humanity, Smith accepts a dinner invitation. Hughley’s verdict was brief: “Miss me with that.”